CP Rail plans for Arbutus Corridor may be risky for children: organizer

The scene was quiet Tuesday morning as CP Rail restarted its work clearing brush and community gardens from the Arbutus Corridor.

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CP rail crews clear the rail tracks on the Arbutus corridor in Vancouver, February 10, 2015.

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The scene was quiet Tuesday morning as CP Rail re-started its work clearing brush and community gardens from the Arbutus Corridor.

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CP rail crews clear the rail tracks on the Arbutus corridor in Vancouver, February 10, 2015.

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CP rail crews clear the rail tracks on the Arbutus corridor in Vancouver, February 10, 2015.

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CP rail crews clear the rail tracks on the Arbutus corridor in Vancouver, February 10, 2015.

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CP rail crews clear the rail tracks on the Arbutus corridor in Vancouver, February 10, 2015.

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The scene was quiet Tuesday morning as CP Rail re-started its work clearing brush and community gardens from the Arbutus Corridor.

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The scene was quiet Tuesday morning as CP Rail re-started its work clearing brush and community gardens from the Arbutus Corridor.

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CP Rail says it will take a couple of weeks to study the Supreme Court ruling before deciding when to restart the repair operations on the Arbutus...more

CP Rail says it will take a couple of weeks to study the Supreme Court ruling before deciding when to restart the repair operations on the Arbutus corridor rail line, above.

Photograph by Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun

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The CP Rail line that runs along the Arbutus Corridor crosses through some of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Vancouver.

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Workers destroy and remove community gardens from a stretch of abandoned CP Rail line in Vancouver earlier this month. The once-abandoned...more

Workers destroy and remove community gardens from a stretch of abandoned CP Rail line in Vancouver earlier this month. The once-abandoned 11-kilometre-long Arbutus Corridor has been used by residents for many years as a greenway where community gardens were erected.

A plan by Canadian Pacific Railway to run trains along the Arbutus Corridor means it will be riskier for children learning about plant biodiversity in a communal garden in the area, according to an organizer.

“The biggest thing would be safety,” said Tricia Sedgwick, executive director of The World In A Garden, which teaches Vancouver students about farming and food from seed to table, as well as the environmental impacts of their food choices and the many cultural celebrations connected to food. “We’re going to have to make sure the kids are safe no matter what. But this is something else to be cautious of.”

Sedgwick, whose urban farm is along the Arbutus Corridor north of 57th Avenue, was reacting to a CP Rail letter sent to residents living near the corridor in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood, warning them that trains will begin rolling down the tracks, for the first time in 15 years.

“We will commence transporting and storing rail cars on the tracks in the coming weeks,” states the letter from CP Rail. “Should you need to cross the tracks, do so only at marked crossings.”

CP Rail refused further comment Tuesday on the letter.

The city of Vancouver, which has been fighting to stop CPR from reactivating its long-disused Arbutus spur line, is critical of the plan.

“I remain fully opposed to the reactivation of trains on the Arbutus corridor, after more than 15 years of inactivity on the route,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson in a statement. “The City of Vancouver has a wide variety of significant public safety concerns about CP’s course of action, and city staff have thoroughly communicated those concerns to Transport Canada.

“The population density along the track is significant, there is a lack of upgraded crossing infrastructure on a short corridor with nearly 50 level crossings that include every major east-west arterial in Vancouver. The grade on the corridor is some of the steepest of any rail line in all of British Columbia, and the city of Vancouver has not been permitted to accompany officials for their safety inspection of the track.

“We continue to be available to CP should they wish to return to talks with the city on the future of the corridor, but Vancouver will not be bullied, and we will not accept seeing our neighbourhoods and families along the corridor having their safety put at risk.”

In January, B.C. Supreme Court dismissed the city’s application for an injunction to prevent the railway from ripping up encroaching gardens to re-establish the line for the storage of railway cars.

The judge ruled the city has no claims to the 11-kilometre route and cannot make any claims on behalf of residents who have built gardens and other structures along the line.

But the judge did not let CPR entirely off the hook, ruling that the city has raised legitimate questions about whether the company de facto abandoned the railway after it stopped running trains on it in 2001.

Vancouver has offered to buy the land for $20 million, but CPR believes it is worth more than $100 million.

One of The World In A Garden’s urban educational farm projects along the corridor built along with Vancouver Montessori School was destroyed along with many gardens by work crews hired by CP Rail.

While the garden built with the Montessori school was totally on CP Rail land, Sedgwick said that their farm near 57th Avenue was only partly on CP land and only partly destroyed. It is still operating on city land beside the CP Rail line.

“We were prepared for it and removed everything from their land. At the end of the day, it’s their land and what can we do? But it sucks for our education programs.”

Sedgwick said she wants to get more information about CP Rail’s plan to run trains along the corridor.

She’s particularly concerned about the railway using pesticides or herbicides, which might mean they won’t grow any more food.

“It’s their land and do I think it’s a great idea? No. I don’t know what their business proposal is or why they’re running the trains.”